Srinagar
The Indian latest statement at the United Nations (UN), asking for permanently removing discussions on Jammu and Kashmir under the “outdated agenda item” only shows its blatant disregard for the world body itself.
According to a report released by Kashmir Media Service, India’s demand for Jammu and Kashmir’s permanent removal from the agenda of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is also unjustified and illogical.
The report said that India itself went to the UN on January 1, 1948 and sought settlement of the issue. It added, the UN has passed more than 18 resolutions on Kashmir particularly of Jan 5, 1949 that calls for holding a plebiscite to decide whether people want to accede to India or Pakistan. It said that the Kashmir dispute is the oldest issue in the UNSC and its resolutions pledging the right to self-determination to the Kashmiri people are still valid despite passage of seven decades. It maintained that the Kashmiri people want resolution of the Kashmir dispute in line with UN resolutions.
The report pointed out that holding of recent UNSC meetings on Jammu and Kashmir are not only nullification of Indian claim that Kashmir is its internal matter but also reiteration of the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. It added that these meetings were big diplomatic victories for the Kashmiris and Pakistan and were setbacks for Indian false narrative on the Kashmir dispute.
It further said India’s August 5, 2019 actions, repealing Kashmir’s special status and imposing military siege by the Modi-led Indian fascist government, violate the UN resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.
It said that after 5th August, 2019, UN Security Council held meetings three times and that the members of the UNSC held a closed-door informal session on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir under ‘Any Other Business’. It added that the UNSC on August 5, 2020 discussed the Kashmir dispute at Pakistan’s request for the third time since India’s Hindu nationalist government decided to end the special status of Kashmir a year ago.
It said that the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres gave statements stressing to resolve the Kashmir dispute as per UN resolutions.
It said that while addressing a conference on climate change in Islamabad on February 16, 2020, Antonio Guterres stressed a dialogue between Pakistan and India to resolve the dispute. It further said that the UN chief even offered his good office more than once for this purpose while calling for resolution of the Kashmir dispute by honouring resolutions of the UNSC.
It maintained that the UN chief on August 5, 2020 reiterated his appeal to India and Pakistan to find a peaceful and mutually satisfactory solution of the Kashmir dispute through dialogue, marking one year anniversary of India’s illegal action to end the special status of IIOJK.
The report underlined that the Kashmiris are still waiting for fulfillment of the promise of holding a UN-supervised plebiscite despite the passage of several decades. It stressed that the UN must fulfill its responsibilities regarding the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination as the unresolved Kashmir dispute has put a question mark on the world body’s credibility.
The report concluded that India’s intransigence was a stumbling block to resolve the Kashmir dispute as per the UN resolutions and the world is duty-bound to support the IIOJK people’s struggle for the UN-sanctioned right to self-determination.—KMS
